Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pumpkin Pies
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, rub the flour smooth with a little milk.
Stir the flour into the pumpkin.
Add the sugar, molasses, spices, and salt.
Beat the eggs thoroughly and add them to the mixture.
Finally, stir in the cream.
Pour the mixture into pie crusts to make three pies.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pumpkin + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pumpkin + gingertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,158 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the pumpkin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, molasses, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Pumpkinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, molasses, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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